02 06 Age of Bronze
by NewDrWhoFan
Summary: Following hard upon "Age of Steel", the Doctor takes Rose on a little trip . . . that takes an even more unexpected turn than usual. 10Rose
1. A Little Cheering Up

_Following hard upon "Age of Steel", the Doctor takes Rose on a little trip . . . that takes an even more unexpected turn than usual._

_This can be read on its own, or as a sequel to "The Girl in the Stalking Spaceship". Thanks to KateCarter and Saavik13 for their marvelous beta work, and to lyin' for pointing out a little discrepancy in the last chapter! (It's been fixed, so don't bother going to look for it.)_

_Disclaimer: Surprise, surprise, I own neither Doctor Who nor Harry Potter (which will come up later in the story). Nor do I get anything from writing these stories--except wonderful, constructive reviews! Wink, wink; nudge, nudge ;)_

* * *

Chapter 1, A Little Cheering Up

The Doctor watched Rose from across the console as she sat in the captain's chair, pretending to read. He didn't doubt she was making an honest effort, but the fact that she'd been on the same page for the past ten minutes told him her heart just wasn't in it.

Not that he could blame her. He thought back to this morning's visit with Jackie. At first, they'd focused on calming Rose down and making some tea. But then, the details about their little trip to parallel earth came out. Soon, it became a matter of calming Jackie down, with Rose valiantly trying to keep her from throttling the Doctor for leaving Mickey behind. Although they'd parted in peace, the Doctor had been sent back into the TARDIS fifteen minutes before Rose had finally joined him.

She hadn't said anything; she simply walked up to the Doctor and buried her head in his suit jacket with her arms around his waist. He wasn't sure how long he'd held her, standing just inside the doors to the TARDIS. She was obviously emotionally drained, so the Doctor eventually chivvied her off to her room for a nap.

He'd heard her emerge from her room before he'd even reached the end of the corridor. He'd tried to insist she get some sleep, but at her quiet, "Can I just stay with you for a while?" his hearts nearly broke. So, he'd led her back into the console room where she'd curled up in her current position with the book she'd brought from her bedroom. The Doctor proceeded to set them adrift in the vortex, but then took the opportunity to just watch her as he fiddled with this or that control.

He was still fiddling when he saw Rose finally give up on her book. He looked away just as she turned towards him, pretending to be studying a readout. Of course, the scanner was on the other side of the console, but Rose didn't seem to be paying close enough attention to catch that little detail. "Doctor, could we go somewhere?" she asked, more weakly than the Doctor liked to hear.

"That's what I'm here for," he replied casually, glad to finally hear her voice again. "Did you have something in mind, or are you up for 'Doctor's Pick', or completely random?"

"Earth," she said quickly. Then, "I don't care, whenever, but could it be somewhere on earth?"

"Earth it is," said the Doctor happily, moving quickly around the console, flipping the necessary levers. He paused before initiating the sequence. "Could be anytime or anywhere on the planet," he said mysteriously, and was rewarded with a small smile from his companion as she stood up to join him at the console. "Well," he added, "anything other than London 2006. We've just been there; that wouldn't be any fun!" With that, he threw the last lever, and the TARDIS rocked and jolted its way to their unknown destination.

The Doctor helped Rose up from the deck grating after the TARDIS stilled. She got her balance, and then asked, "So, where are we?"

"No idea," said the Doctor with a huge smile.

* * *

_To be continued._


	2. Not London

Chapter 2, Not London

The Doctor watched as Rose grabbed her jacket from the railing, then took her hand to lead her through the front doors.

The heat and light of a warm summer day greeted them. "Won't be needin' this, then," said Rose, tossing her jacket back through the still open doors of the TARDIS. "So," she said, turning to the Doctor, "when do you think?"

He took in their surroundings: the river valley, the farmsteads, the level of technology. "1500 BC give or take, round about Dorset, or maybe Wiltshire, I'd say."

"So, still England, then," said Rose in a teasing voice.

"Neither London, nor, I might add, 2006," the Doctor pointed out. "Way before even the Norman Conquest."

He was rewarded with a smile, and a squeeze of his hand. "Maybe we should do this more often, then," Rose said. At the Doctor's confused expression she continued, "Y'know, shoot for a destination that's anythin' _but_ a specific point. Might improve your accuracy."

If the Doctor could have said anything in the face of her teasing grin, it would have been a really crushing retort. As it was, he just turned to pull the TARDIS doors closed, then pulled her along behind him as he headed off. He might have muttered something about "ungrateful companions" but couldn't maintain the pretext of a foul mood for long against the sound of Rose's laughter.

They climbed along the valley, mostly in companionable silence, past staked-off cattle enclosures and distant, low farmhouses. "Nobody 'round to greet us," said Rose after a while. The Doctor noticed she was right. Not only had no one met them, but there was no sign of anyone working among the animals or vegetable gardens, either. "Trouble, ya think?" Rose asked.

"Society's still mostly tribal, but being livestock farmers they don't generally go looking for trouble with the neighbors," observed the Doctor. "Still, knowing our luck--" he stopped as the sounds of distant voices met them from over the hill they'd begun scaling. He glanced at Rose, and at her encouraging grin, picked up the pace.

Leaving the river valley and the tree-cleared lower slopes behind, they moved quickly into the more heavily forested area and towards the growing clamor. They made fairly good progress, thanks to a well-beaten path. On either side, the Doctor could make out ancient and not-so-ancient barrows, half-hidden among the trees. He didn't have much time to ponder their significance, because he and Rose soon found themselves at the top of the hill, and at the edge of a wide, grassy plain.

* * *

_To be continued._


	3. Party Time

Chapter 3, Party Time

The source of the commotion was not a battle, but a festival of some kind. Horse- and oxen-driven carts moved amongst a variety of tents, tables, and games. Hand-in-hand, the Doctor and Rose dove in among the locals, trying to take it all in. The Doctor was particularly relieved to see the delighted expression on Rose's face as they explored.

"What do you think you're doing?" a woman called out harshly as they walked by.

Startled, they came to an abrupt halt in front of her. "Sorry," began the Doctor, "I'm afraid we're new here--"

"I should say so!" answered the woman. "What's a beautiful maiden doing at festival without a proper dress?" Her face instantly softened to something between a caring mother and an eager salesperson. "Come along dear," she said to Rose, holding up one of the dresses from her cart. "Anything you like?"

Looking around more carefully, the Doctor noticed that while most of the men were dressed in the simple, practical garb of farmers, the women wore particularly festive dresses, with wreaths of flowers and green leaves in their hair. "Probably a good idea, Rose," he whispered quietly to her.

Fortunately, Rose seemed agreeable to the idea, if her smile was anything to go by. She asked the woman, "How much?"

She scoffed in reply. "At the solstice? No charge. But if you'll come to Lark's Hill in three days' time, you'll find all my wares are reasonably priced," she added with a wink.

"Is it the summer solstice, then?" the Doctor asked. "Is that what the celebration's for?"

The woman looked at him like he was mad, an expression with which the Doctor was not unfamiliar. "Where are you from that you'd come to the solstice without knowing what day it is?" she asked.

"Oh, a way's away," replied the Doctor vaguely.

With a shake of her head, the woman ushered Rose into a small tent to change, having picked out several dresses for her to try.

* * *

_To be continued._


	4. When in Wiltshire

_Yeah, Chapter 3 was a bit short, so here's another :)_

* * *

Chapter 4, When in Wiltshire

While he waited, the Doctor investigated the aromas coming from the next table over. Again, everything was free of charge, and he came away with quite an assortment for a picnic lunch.

"Doctor?" came Rose's voice from behind him.

He turned to see a vision in white. The dress was simple enough, long and flowing, and she'd woven a garland of flowers into her hair. She'd kept her own boots, but he assumed the rest of her apparel was in the small sack she carried. At her small throat-clearing he realized he'd been staring, and that Rose was waiting for him to say something. "Beautiful," he said simply.

"For a human?" came Rose's reply.

It had become a bit of a joke between them, but the Doctor was determined to make up for his last regeneration's callousness at every available opportunity. He took her free hand in his own, and said, "Just beautiful."

He was rewarded with a brilliant smile. "Apparently, the big party is about half a mile that way," she said, nodding in the direction they'd been travelling.

"Shall we?" asked the Doctor.

"We shall," answered Rose.

They made their way through the throng, enjoying their lunch and taking in the sights. Just as they'd finished eating, they came to the center of the festivities. There were musicians playing, and within a circle of tents what seemed a never-ending chain of dancers was weaving its way through a surprisingly familiar stone ring.

"That's Stonehenge," said Rose, looking to the Doctor for confirmation.

"Stonehenge, of course!" said the Doctor. "It all makes sense now. I was right, see? Wiltshire, after all," he said with a grin.

"So, whaddya know about it?" asked Rose. "I mean, like was it really built by aliens? Are they gonna be doin' human sacrifices 'n stuff?"

"Naw," said the Doctor, "it wasn't built by any aliens--well," he paused, clarifying, "they might have lent a hand." He continued before Rose could ask, "But I wouldn't worry about human sacrifices. Might have been, maybe fifteen hundred years ago or so, but not now." He vaguely realized he was entering lecture mode, but couldn't really help himself. "See, over the millennia Stonehenge has changed uses hundreds of times from what the original builders might have intended. From religious, to astronomical, to anything in between. Seems to me they're in an in between phase right now, ritual celebration of the solstice--"

The Doctor's rant was ever so rudely interrupted by a man and a woman who stopped directly in front of him and Rose. "Are you married?" asked the woman bluntly, and rather breathlessly, as though they'd been moving quickly through the crowds.

"Um, no," answered the Doctor.

"Just friends," said Rose simultaneously, but she tightened her grip on the Doctor's hand.

"But we're together," added the Doctor cautiously, unsure of what trouble either married or unmarried couples might get into.

To his relief, the man and woman smiled. "Well," said the man, undraping a length of cord from about his shoulders, "you'd best join the dance, hadn't you?"

He proceeded to tie the Doctor's wrist to Rose's, her right hand clasped in his left. The woman spoke again as the man produced an intricate knot. "It's almost the solstice, you know, got here just in time!"

As soon as the man finished his work, the couple disappeared into the crowd, looking for their next victims. The Doctor looked down at their joined hands, then at Rose. She met his gaze with raised eyebrows, but a smile that told him she was ready for adventure. "Rose Tyler, would you care to dance?" he asked.

"I'm game if you are," she replied.

* * *

_To be continued._


	5. Dinner and Dancing

Chapter 5, Dinner and Dancing

Rose and the Doctor walked to the nearest edge of the chain of dancers. The Doctor tried to figure out if there were any particular steps involved or if one just needed to hold on tight. For that matter, he wondered how they were supposed to cut in to the fast-moving sea of humanity.

His answer came when an approaching woman let go of the hand of the man ahead of her and yelled, "Come on, then!" Rose took the man's hand, and the Doctor followed behind her, clasping the hand of the woman who'd invited them.

They followed as best they could, half skipping, half running as the dancers snaked their way through the great standing stones to the beat of the music. The Doctor was just reflecting on how much he'd missed the sound of Rose's pure laughter lately, when a blare of horns brought the dancers to an abrupt halt. All of the couples let go of the hands to which they weren't tied, and turned towards the west. "This is it," said the Doctor to Rose as she caught her breath. They stood in almost the center of the ring now, and the sun, about two hours from setting, shone directly ahead of them. "At the exact moment of the solstice, the sun is perfectly aligned with the stones, see?"

"Not really," said Rose, shielding her eyes from the sunlight with her free hand. But her smile told him she was just being sarcastic.

A swelling sound of applause got their attention, and the Doctor noticed that all the couples outside of the ring were clapping and shouting over a fanfare from the musicians. Meanwhile, the other couples within the ring were hugging, laughing, and kissing. The Doctor nodded his head for Rose to look at the eastern end of the ring where men and women in robes had begun walking amongst the couples, sprinkling them water shaken from long, leafy branches. As they drew nearer to where Rose and the Doctor stood, he heard them repeating one phrase as they went: "Oh, happy marriage, blessed by the solstice!" He could tell exactly when Rose figured it out, as she suddenly stilled beside him.

The Doctor tried to act casual, and gave her a friendly grin. "Looks like we just got married," he said, stating the obvious.

Rose, seemingly taking his cue, laughed a bit and gently swung their linked hands between them. Then she bit her lip, and said, "Just wait 'til Mum hears about this."

The image of an irate Jackie Tyler fresh in his mind, the Doctor wasn't exactly eager for that to happen. "Well, maybe we can just wait 'til it comes up. No need to rush back home, inviting trouble," he said, more nervously than he wanted to admit. Fortunately, this elicited a genuine laugh from Rose, and the awkwardness of their situation seemed to vanish instantly.

After being doused by the waterlogged branches, Rose and the Doctor followed their fellow dancers out of the ring. They dashed over to retrieve Rose's bundle of clothes, then joined the couples who had been within the stones at the moment of the solstice. A feast had been prepared for them, just outside the ring of tents. Although they had eaten a small lunch about an hour ago, the dance had helped them work up quite an appetite, so Rose and the Doctor heartily enjoyed the meal, despite the difficulty of eating with their hands still joined.

The purpose of the ring of tents became apparent at sunset. The newlywed couples were each led to their own tent amid much pomp and circumstance, and then released from their bonds just before entering. As the Doctor and Rose stood at the entrance of their tent, the Doctor felt the earlier tension return.

* * *

_To be continued._


	6. Lavish Accommodations

Chapter 6, Lavish Accommodations

"Don't s'pose it's bigger on the inside," said Rose, poking the tent flap with the toe of her boot. The tent looked barely big enough for the two of them, unless they planned on spending the night standing up--no, crouching.

"No," said the Doctor, "you're thinking of the wizard tents in 'Harry Potter'."

"Actually," said Rose, slowly, "I was thinkin' of the TARDIS. Y'know, big, blue box? We sometimes do some travellin' in it?" She was giving him that teasing grin that he loved, just a bit of tongue poking out between her teeth.

"Well, unfortunately the TARDIS is parked about three miles away, through a dark and scary forest, at the moment," he told her, unable to supress his own smile.

"Looks like this is it for the night, then," she acceded.

"Ladies first," said the Doctor, holding back the tent flap for Rose to duck through. "Sorry 'bout not carrying you over the threshold, but it's a bit of a tight fit," he said, continuing to joke about their surprise wedding.

Of course, he was only joking about it, because he couldn't get the thought out of his mind.

He followed her into the tent, but didn't go far, as there was a narrow bed that took up all but the front few feet of the interior. It was piled with blankets, but the night was warm enough that they should be able to use most of them as padding atop the straw mattress.

Rose dropped her sack of clothes by the entrance, then sat on the foot of the bed attempting to kick off her slightly muddied boots. The Doctor looked again at the bed, increasingly aware of its lack of width, then took some mental measurements of the grassy patch on which he stood, wondering how comfortable he could make himself there with maybe a blanket or two. "Don't even start," said Rose, breaking into his musings. "You're not takin' the floor on your wedding night," she said with a smile. Still, the Doctor didn't answer, made even more irrationally uncomfortable by the mention of a wedding night. "C'mon, plenty of room to share," she said, scooting back onto the bed, and reaching up to undo the flowers from her hair.

The Doctor mentally kicked himself into action. If Rose didn't have a problem with it, why was he suddenly obsessing? With a melodramatic sigh, he draped his jacket and tie over the foot of the bed, put his shoes next to Rose's boots, and climbed onto the bed. "You and your domestics," he chided. "Next you'll be wanting a honeymoon."

"You'd better believe it!" said Rose, dropping the last flowers onto the ground beside the bed, and combing out her hair with her fingers. "And it had better be good, mister 'all of time and space.'" She settled herself on the bed next to him, wrapping a light blanket over herself as she turned her back to him.

Due to the confined space, the Doctor found himself also forced to turn onto his side, with his arm draped over Rose's waist. "All of time and space," he said, mulling over her words. "Something fit to crown all our previous adventures combined." Crown. "I know, how 'bout the coronation of King Jesteen XXIII of the planet Zog?"

"Zog?" asked Rose.

"A lot more fun than the name implies, I promise," said the Doctor, brushing some of her hair from his face, and not noticing the lingering scent of flowers at all. Not one bit.

"Hmm," said Rose quietly, snuggling deeper into her blanket and, to the Doctor's delight, pulling his arm closer around her. "I'll have to see it to believe it," she said. "But if I don't like it, you'll have to come up with somethin' better."

She was already drifting off, but the Doctor couldn't help but keep up the banter. "Something better? What do you want?" he asked.

"Music. And definitely more dancin'," was her sleepy reply.

The Doctor knew she couldn't be held accountable for her words, but he couldn't help the swell of happiness at what they implied after today's events. Still, he continued his teasing. "Music. Dancing. I offer you the leader of the Relqine Protectorate, and all you want is the king of rock 'n roll." Then, it hit him. "Oh, but that's brilliant!" he exclaimed, half sitting up. "Rose? How'd you like to see Elvis, live and in concert? Hmm?"

She didn't answer. That, and her deep, even breathing, told the Doctor that she was finally asleep. He gently pressed a kiss to her temple, then laid back down, settling his arm protectively around his wife--friend, he thought, startled that the idea had already penetrated so deeply into his subconscious. Best friend, he repeated to himself, closing his eyes, and allowing himself just a bit of sleep as well.

* * *

_The end._

_Next story, "Lantern Extinguished"--see you there!_


End file.
